Bad hypos

[Jennywren]

Oh dear , low carb diet is causing me to struggle with my hypos at mo , went down to 2 at mums today an reacted quite badly , poor mum lost my dad to diabetes 14 years ago and although she has seen me have hypos , they havent been as bad as today so made her panic a bit bless her

 

[Northerner]

I'm very sorry to hear this Jenny, I hope that you are able to reassure her and that it doesn't happen again for a loooooong time 🙂

 

[Hazel]

Och, sweetie - both of you would get such a fright.

As you know, I too am trying to cut back carbs and it frightens me to go too low. Maybe, you need to cut back on the insulin?

I hope you are feeling better

 

[RissyKay]

I know the feeling, I had a Hypo a couple of days ago due to having to increase my insluin... Did it a bit too much and everytime my OH gets a bit antsy as he is the one who found me unconsious when I went into my coma... He really doesn't want THAT happening again!

I hope your mum is okay 🙂 (And you obviously!!)

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Yuk! Sounds horrid Jenny. Given the weight you have been losing recently, do you think you are becoming more sensitive to insulin? Or might it be worth testing your basal again to make sure your needs haven't changed?

 

[trophywench]

What Mike said.

How 'low carb' have you been going mate?

 

[Ellie Jones]

Most low carb diets rely on dropping the carbs and increasing the fat or protein content of the diet...

For the insulin user can lead to several problems..

Fat can lead to more insulin resistance which requires to more insulin, Protein is similar has it also breaks down into carbs but at a extremely slow rate and requires insulin to counter balance.

The knock on effect of this is that insulin can then adsorb much quicker than the adsorption than the mixture of carbs/fats/protein that's being eaten..

Bernstein actually uses 3 types of insulin, background, the old fashioned soluble quick acting insulin and the new analogue insulin..

Background used as per normal..
The newer analogue insulin (novorapid, humalog) is mainly used for corrections
The older soluble is used for most of the meals, as it as a very slow profile before peaking and tailing off which it's easier to use this profile to counter react the adsorption of a high fat/protein based meal..

Jenny

As you are on a pump, it may mean that you have to look very closely at how you deliver your bolus to match the difference in your adsorption rates.. And what carb/protien/insulin ratio you need.. Rather than a straight carb/insulin ratio

 

[Jennywren]

Yes Ellie i am on pump , having a lot of hypos through night just isnt enough carb there i suspose .

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Jenny - in theory if your basal is set right you should be able to go 24 hours completely carb free with no problems. My (anecdotal only) understanding is that very low carb only becomes tricky to manage once the body becomes more adept at converting protein to glucose. Apart from that low carb seems very sustainable, as long as you make sure it is nutritionally balanced in terms of vitamins, minerals etc.

As Ellie says, you might need to spread insulin activity with square wave delivery to match lower carb meals?

Lots of hypos overnight suggest basal tweaks might be required...

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Yes Ellie i am on pump , having a lot of hypos through night just isnt enough carb there i suspose .

That's just far to much insulin as a basal 🙂

 

[Jennywren]

Basal Rates being tweaked 😉